Category: Deficits

There are people out there hammering the Tea Party and saying it failed. Well, if the definition of “failure” for the Tea Party turns out to be getting 2.4 trillion in cuts when Obama wanted none, we need more “failure.” I mean, we REALLY need more failure because the deal isn’t enough to change the […]

Since Cut, Cap, & Balance can’t move through the Senate, we’ve been having a big fight to decide which plan that won’t fix our problems is going to become law. Here’s the compromise that has supposedly been decided upon, A White House official cautioned that no deal had been reached and that details floating out […]

“That’s the real crisis — the unemployment, not the deficit. We don’t have a deficit problem right now. In the long term, we have a deficit problem — we’ve got to get it under control but not right now. — Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) Here’s a newspaper headline from a yellowing cutting I found up in […]

I’d start by congratulating him for passing one of the most responsible pieces of legislation to come out of Washington in the last decade: Cut, Cap, and Balance. Then I’d note what we both already know: The chances of it becoming law, even if the GOP held out for months, would be zero because Democrats […]

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the U.S. is in no danger of losing its Aaa debt rating even though the Obama administration has predicted a $1.6 trillion budget deficit in 2010. “Absolutely not,” Geithner said, when asked in an ABC News interview broadcast yesterday whether a downgrade is a concern. “That will never happen […]

Back in the private dining room in Pella, Palin shared some of those policy positions. On the debt ceiling, she takes the hardline view. “It is not the apocalypse,” she said, and questioned the need for the urgent negotiating sessions Republicans and Democrats were conducting in search of a debt-limit agreement (ongoing at press time). […]

Do you want to know the real reason we have a budget problem in America? It’s something that most politicians, conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, don’t have the courage to address because it would make so many people angry. Happily, I’m not running for office; so I don’t have to spoon feed anyone. Are […]

“Unfortunately, we can’t vote on a speech.” — Mitch McConnell In politics, the minority party is often accused of refusing to govern and just engage in backseat driving instead. It’s fascinating to see how that dynamic has been turned on its head as the Democrats, who are actually in charge, are refusing to govern and […]

As you may know, Standard & Poor’s moved America’s debt outlook from stable to negative. That means we could lose our Triple A rating on our sovereign debt within 2 years. This is not a problem that can be fixed with a bailout, a speech, or a blue ribbon panel. It will require actual painful […]

I was generally supportive of the GOP’s compromise with the Democrats on the Budget and considered it to be a small win. Granted 38 billion in cuts isn’t a lot when we have a deficit that’s north of 1.5 trillion dollars. Moreover, it’s not the 100 billion they initially promised or even the 61 billion […]

The Democrats and Republicans reached a deal to avoid shutting down the government and everyone seems to see it differently. Did the Republicans win or did the Democrats? Was a great start to getting the budget under control or not even a drop in the bucket? Here’s the reality; Democrats believe we should be spending […]